In the world of Netflix’s original movie “Bird Box”, you’re not supposed to look at anything outside.

However, in the world of Netflix, you can look at “Bird Box” as much as you like. In fact, 45 million Netflix accounts looked at the movie during its first week online.

Netflix said Friday that number set a seven-day record for streaming views for an original film. The movie, which stars Sandra Bullock, centers around an invisible creature or force that causes people who see it to commit suicide, and Bullock’s efforts to find safety for herself and two children.

Took off my blindfold this morning to discover that 45,037,125 Netflix accounts have already watched Bird Box — best first 7 days ever for a Netflix film! pic.twitter.com/uorU3cSzHR

The record viewership for “Bird Box” comes on the heels of another original movie success for Netflix, “The Christmas Chronicles.” In early December, Netflix said that film, which stars Kurt Russell as Santa Claus, was streamed more than 20 million times during its first week of availability.

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To put Netflix’s streaming accounts in some perspective, Netflix reported having 137 million subscriber accounts at the end of its third quarter, in September. Based on that number, nearly 33 percent of Netflix’s subscribers watched “Bird Box” at some point in its first seven days of release.

Netflix has historically refrained from releasing data on viewership ratings, preferring instead to occasionally give details on the performance of specific movies of shows over a specific, short-term period.

Rex Crum is the senior web editor for the business section for The Mercury News and Bay Area News Group. He also writes about business and technology for the publications' print and web editions, and has covered business and technology for nearly two decades. A native of Seattle, he remains a diehard Seahawks and Mariners fan and is imparting his fandom to his Oakland-native wife and two young daughters.